252 COILED BASKETRY IN BRITISH COLUMBIA (ETH, ANN. 41 
it gives a very heavy effect. The triangle shown in Plate 45, h, is 
interesting because its base is worked in alternate stitches of black 
and white in a single row, instead of being composed of two rows, 
one white and one black, as is the case along the sides. In some 
cases, when filling the space between the black lines with white, the 
artist merely emphasizes the space enclosed by the diverging lines. 
It is peculiar that on coiled baskets of all the tribes studied practically 
all old triangular decorations consist of a field set off by an angle and 
filled with plain imbrication, checkerwork, or with lines parallel to 
the outlines. The expedient of increasing the width of the diagonal 
lines to offset the necessarily wide horizontal line of the base has ap- 
parently not been resorted to. 
In addition to the baskets shown in Plates 42, e, and 44, d, e, f, 4, 
which are decorated with single isosceles and right-angled triangles, 
three or four other specimens (pls. 8, ¢; 13, 6) show the presence of 
small isolated figures worked in solid color, but these are very few on 
which to base a theory of the construction of elaborate series of tri- 
angles in vertical and horizontal arrangement from the triangle as an 
element, or the conscious application of this as a figure in art, except 
in very recent times; yet, on account of the very number of superim- 
posed, divided and complete triangles appearing in combination, it 
seems impossible that the people have not long recognized the tri- 
angular form. This is proved by the filling in of the space between 
the diverging lines of chevrons. Certainly the triangular figure is 
given an individual interpretation in the majority of cases. 
There is little doubt that if an isolated triangle had been drawn in 
outline by a white man and shown to the Indians, the old people would 
have seen nothing new init. The infrequent appearance of the fig- 
ure as a separate element, and the universal appearance of the chey- 
ron in outline or filled in, as well as of innumerable triangles found 
in series separated by lines or contrasts in colors, merely suggests 
that the development of the form came through the channels of that 
of intersecting or opposed zigzags or filled-in chevrons. It also sug- 
gests that it was comparatively long in being recognized as a possi- 
ble separate design and illustrates what a large part habit plays in 
the formation of an art style. 
The subdivisions of true triangles are rare indeed, although fre- 
quently the figure is outlined once or twice in black, and the space 
between the lines is imbricated in white, or the outline may be in 
white while the center is black, as may be seen in the Wenatchi 
specimen shown in Plate 44, ¢. A triangle worked all in checker is 
practically the same in effect as a series of concentric chevrons with 
the spaces between worked in white. For the other treatments of 
triangular surfaces the reader is referred to Plates 78-94. 
